Matt of All Trades blog, like the title suggests, is by a Vermont author and offers offbeat musings on pop culture, media, journalism, humor, weirdness, stupid people, smart people, my life as a journalist, landscaper, photographer, married gay man, dog lover and weather geek and more. It's run by me, Matt Sutkoski, a native Vermonter living in St. Albans, Vt.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The End of the World? Or Just Oklahoma?

To Robertson and his ilk, every disaster, or even little mishap is a sign of the end times. Every time there is bad weather somewhere, it means the world is ending. So we'd better get in shape, Robertson says, or God or Jesus or somebody will punish us. Kind of like Santa Claus not bringing us presents if we don't make our beds and stop pulling our sisters' hair.

Pat Robertson explains how a random Oklahoma
earthquake means the world is ending.

I guess if we're not good, we will kill somebody in some distant disaster. And remember, you have to be good in the way Robertson, et al think you ought to be good. Better research Robertson's morality and follow suit, or else!

Could anything be more pathetic? Keep warning about the "end times" in a futile attempt to keep us in line. Robertson continually does this end times schtick so tirelessly, and tiresomely. Does he actually think he has that power of persuasion? Or that God talks to him about how He likes to unleash random disasters on unsuspecting humans because it's fun or something?

Yes, there are gullible people that follow Robertson and those end time types, but really.

By Robertson's logic, if somebody in Vermont likes the fact that gay marriage is legal here, the end result will be, I don't know, a typhoon in North Dakota or something. If somebody is "bad" in, say, New York, why do the nice people in Tulsa have to bear the cost of some jerk sinning in Schenectedy?

And don't even get me started on Harold Camping and his repeated warnings of the impending end of the world.

And so far this year, Oklahoma had its sharpest cold snap on record, one of its worst blizzards, one of its worst droughts, the hottest summer ever and a nasty spring tornado season that was hard to bear even by Sooner State standards. God hates Oklahoma. Well, actually no. The state has just had really, really bad luck in the weather department. At least the Weather Channel has been winning big time with storm footage from Oklahoma, so there's that.

Where I live in Vermont,. things are tranquil. It's been sunny lately, mild for early November, and there have been no earthquakes or tornadoes. So are we Vermonters better than the folks in Oklahoma? Or will a plague of locusts descend on Oklahoma City tomorrow because I sit here in St. Albans, Vermont thinking about what a moron Robertson is?